Hanger por porch and other swings



E. P. ELZEY.

HANGER FOR PORCH AND OTHER SWINGS, CHAIRS, ANI? THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-9. 191s.

1,3255358. Pzitnted Dec. 16,1919.

2v SHEETSSHEET I.

ATTO EY;

E. P. ELZEY.

HANGER FOR PORCH AND OTHER SWINGS, CHAIRS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION. FILED DEC-9. l9i8.

ow m Y m m J A m P um Y E B A I f f I L r 8 Q x I Z MW 5 r I b m 2 d a b 2 UNITED STATES PATENT onmon EDGAR P. ELZEY, 0F PARKERSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AU-TO PLAY GOODS COMPANY, OF PARKER SBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, A OORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

HANGER FOR- IE'ORCH AND OTHER SWINGS, CHAIRS, AND THE LIKE;

Application filed December 9, 1918.

To all whom, z't-may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR P. ELZEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Parkersburg, Wood county, State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hangers for Porch and other Swings, Chairs, and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in hangers for porch or chair and other swings; and the objects and nature of the invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art in the light of the following explanation of the accompanying drawings illustrating what I now believe to be the preferred mechanical expression or embodiment of my invention among forms, constructions and arrangements within the spirit and scope thereof.

It is now the common practice to suspend sporch swings and the like from depending hooks or eyes fastened in overhead beams or other supports by means of depending chains or cables at their upper ends hooked into or otherwise coupled to the overhead support ing hooks or eyes and at their lower ends hooked into or otherwise coupled to the front and rear attachin means at the opposite ends of the suspended chairs or seats. Such suspending means are objectionable for various reasons, such as the tendency of the suspended seats to overturn backward when the center of gravity is shifted rearwardly as by children standing in the seats and lean ing over the seat backs; the difficulty often encountered in attaching the chains to the overhead hooks or eyes; the tendency of such suspended seats to move with a jerk and sway endw-ise or twist, turn or move from a more or less true pendulum path of movement and to impart to the sensibilities of the occupant the impression of uncertainty and lack of stability; the expense of metal chains and the present day difiiculty of securing supplies of such chain.

It is an object of my invention to provide hangers for such chairs, seats and the like, that will overcome the foregoing objections to chains and suspending cables and that will possess other advantages thereover.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in certain novel features in construction and in combinations and ar- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

Serial No. aeasoo.

rangements as more fully and particularly set forth and pointed out hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1, is a perspective viewof a porch swing or the like embodying my invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views of the hanger.

In the drawings I show any suitable or desirable seat or chair 1 suspended through the medium of two hangers of my invention from any suitable overhead supports to which are fixed depending attaching means such as two spaced hooks or eyes 2 or the equivalent thereof, The chair is provided with two pairs of attaching means at the ends thereof, for instance, in the example illustrated, each seat arm is provided with two spaced upwardly projecting hooks or eyes 3 one at the rear end and the other at the front thereof.

The two suspending and seat supporting hangers are essentially or approximately similar in construction or duplicates, and each consists of an elongated straight main stem, section or length a composed of an approximately stiff wooden bar or strip, two comparatively short downwardly diverging branches, legs, sections or lengths (3 composed of wooden bars or strips, and suitable supporting and attaching parts. These legs or branches can be duplicates although I prefer to form one of greater length than the other to hold the chair or seat at a slight inclination or in arearwardly tilted position.

The upper end of the main stem at is formed or equipped for loose coupling to and suspension from one of the overhead attaching. means 2 while the lower end of said stem and the upper ends of the two legs or branches Z) are formed and equipped for securing or attaching together in vertical as well as angular adjustment to permit variation in the over all length of the hanger and also variation of the distance between the lower ends of the two branches. The lower ends of the two branches are formed or equipped for coupling to the front and rear attaching means 3 at one end of the chair.

In the particular embodiment illustrated, I show the lower end portion of the main stem a formed with a vertical or longitudinal series of spaced transverse holes a to successively or otherwise, receive a transends of the branches 6 are coupled to the main stem. The upper end of each branch is formed with a transverse hole I) to receive said bolt. The holes .7) of the branches are brought into registration or alineinent with one of the holes a of the main st m, with the branches arranged at opposite side faces of the main stem so that the stem lies between the branches. The bolt 0 is then passed through said holes, preferably with spacing washers d removably located on the bolt and between the adjacent side faces of the stem and branches. The belt is preferably headed at one end and longitudinally threaded at the opposite end. The heads 0' of the bolt is arranged at the outer side face of one of Lac branches, preferably abutting a washer cl remombly arranged on the bolt and interposed between said head and the outer face of the adjacent branch. The threaded end of the bolt projects outwardl be 0nd the outer face of the other branch and removably receives clamping nut 6 preferably provided with wings so that it can be easily manipulated by the fingers. I also preferably removably locate a washer d on the threaded end of the bolt between the wing nutand the outer face of the adjacent branch. By manipulating the wing nut, the upper ends of the we branches can be tightly clamped with respect to the main stem and in the desired angular adjustment. The two branches can be adjusted longitudinally of the main stem to increase or diminish the length of the hanger, by removing the clamping bolt and reapplying the same to the stem in a higher or lower hole a and again clamping the branches to the stem, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Any suitable attaching or coupling means can be provided at the upper end of the main stem and at the lower ends of the branches, although in the embodiment illustrated, I show each said end provided with a longitudinally projecting hook 7, each hook being preferably rotatable and longitudinally adjustable with respect to the end of the hanger to which it is applied. In this example, hook bolts are provided with their hooked outer ends forming the hooks f and with the opposite ends of their straight cylindrical shanks f longitudinally threaded to receive nuts f. Each hook bolt is anchored in the stem or branch end by extending longitudinally through a bore formed longitudinally in said end from the end face thereof to a transverse hole bored through the hanger member a distance from its adjacent extremity and receiving and forming an abutment for the hook bolt securing or anchoring nut 7. Each hook bolt is rotatable and longitudinally adjustable in its said bore. The hook bolts are applied by inserting their shanks in said bores and inserting the nuts in the holes 9 and screwing the bolts into the nuts. The walls of the holes ,7 hold the nuts against rotating and against substantial longitudinal movement, yet the bolts can be rotated relatively to the nuts and hangers to turn the hooks in the desired direction to easily enter the supporting eyes fixed to the overhead support and the eyes or other attaching means of the chair or eat, and also to project each hook a greater or less distance beyond the par ticular wooden member of the hanger to which it is directly applied.

The stilt legs or branches of the hangers positively hold the chair or seat in afixed position with respect to the longitudinal axes of the hangers during the pendulum movement of the swing. The branches can hence be arranged to hold the chair at any desired tilt or inclination. For instance, I show the rear branches of the pair of hangers of greater length than the front branches of said hangs to hold the chair tilted rearwardly so that the occupants thereof can as same a natural comfortable position therein.

The person putting p the swing can usually stand on the floor or ground and by manipulating the hangers from that position, insert their upper hooks in the over head supporting means 2. The hooks at the lower ends of the branches can be inserted in the attaching means of the chair either before or after the main stems have been suspended from supports 2, and before or after the branches have been adjusted to the desired elevation with respect to the. main stems, although the branches are usually clamped tightly in the desired angular adjustment (with the lower ends of each pair of branches spaced the desired distance apart) after the hooks of the branches have been applied to the attaching means 3 of the chair. In action, these hangers confine and hold the porch or chair swing to an approximately steady pendulum like movement while the chair or seat is held approximately fixed with respect to the longitudinal axes of the hangers, and hence relative eXcessive tilting and overturning of the chair is impossible. I The hangers are adaptable to approximately all of the porch swings, and the like, now in common use, and are adjustable in length to hold the chairs at the desired elevation whatever the height of the overhead supports from the floors within reasonable limits, while the branch sections are adjustable to various angles of divergence to accommodate various spacing of the front and rear attaching devices on the arms or seats of the chairs of porch swings. The hooks f can be applied to various kinds and sorts of eyes, hooks, rings, etc. that may be employed as overhead supports or as the attaching means on the porch swing chairs.

The hangers can also be folded for shipping and storing and can be easily applied and taken down, and furthermore are exceedingly durable and comparatively inexpensive.

It is evident that various changes, departures and modifications might be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact disclosures hereof.

lVhat I claim is 1. A swing chair having each arm provided with a pair of upwardly project-ing chair supporting eyes; in combination with a pair of hangers, each'composed of an elongated stem having a longitudinal series of transverse bolt holes, a pair of removable downwardly diverging branches each at its upper end having a transverse bolt hole, the upper ends of said branches being located at opposite side faces of said stem with their bolt holes alined with one of said holes of the stem, and a removable clamping bolt passing through said alined bolt holes and clamping the stem between the branches, and adjustable hooks carried by the lower ends of said branches and removably engaging said eyes of a chair arm, the front branches of the hangers being of reduced length to hold the chair in a rearwardly inclined position.

2. A pair of chair swing hangers, each composed of an elongated bar forming a stem at its upper end having attaching means, a pair of downwardly diverging bars forming branches and each at its lower end having an adjustable attaching hook, said hooks of each hanger arranged to removably engage the supporting eyes of a chair arm,

and means for clamping the upper ends of said branches to said stem and rendering said branches separately adjustable angularly and also adjustable vertically with respect to said stem.

3. A pair of attachable and detachable chair swing hangers, each composed of an elongated bar forming a stem at its upper end having supporting and attaching means, a pair of downwardly diverging bars forming branches, means for securing the upper ends of said branches to said stem in vertical and angular adjustment, and coupling members attached to the lower ends of said branches for removable operative interlocking with chair supporting means at the chair ends for removably suspending the chair from said members, said members being movably coupled to the branch ends to permit independent manipulation or positioning of each member to enable the same to be inserted in or operatively engaged with and disengaged from a chair supporting means.

a. A pair of attachable and detachable swing chair hangers, each composed of bars forming an elongated stem and a pair of downwardly diverging hangers, the upper end of the stem having coupling means for removably engaging and suspending the hanger from an overhead support, each branch at its lower end having relatively movable coupling means shif-table toposition to operatively engage and disengage supporting means of the chair and means for adjustably and remova'bly securing the upper ends of the branches to the stem, whereby each hanger can be separately knocked down for packing.

EDGAR P. ELZEY. 

